Board of Regents quarterly meeting is March 29; agenda includes criteria for next president of Northeast State Community College, student incidental fee changes

The Tennessee Board of Regents will convene March 29 in Nashville for its regular quarterly meeting, and major items on the agenda include proposed changes in student incidental fees on some campuses and criteria for the next president of Northeast State Community College.

The Board will meet at 12 noon CT at Nashville State Community College, 120 White Bridge Road, in the H Building Theater. H Building is located behind the Clement Building on the northern end of the campus.  A complete agenda and informational material are available on the TBR website at https://www.tbr.edu/board/board-meeting-schedule-and-materials.

The Board of Regents governs the state’s 13 community colleges and 27 colleges of applied technology comprising the College System of Tennessee.

In addition to the Northeast State presidential search criteria and incidental fee proposals, action items on the agenda include consideration of:

• Proposed new degree and diploma programs, including a new associate of applied science (A.A.S) degree program in professional music at Volunteer State Community College and 16 new technical training programs at 11 colleges of applied technology.
• Proposed revisions in institutional mission profiles at nine community colleges.
• A proposed new policy on early postsecondary opportunities, which are programs that give high school students opportunities to earn college credit to accelerate their progress toward technical certificates or associate degrees.
• Elimination of obsolete TBR policies, including policies that applied only to the six universities that were governed by the Board of Regents before the FOCUS Act (Focus on College and University Success) went into effect last year.
• Proposals to name buildings at the Tennessee College of Applied Technology Memphis and Walters State Community College’s Sevier County Campus.
• A resolution of appreciation for Dr. Lynn Kreider, who retired in December as president of TCAT Murfreesboro.
• The Board will also present the Regents Award for Excellence in Philanthropy to Regent Joey Hatch, who chairs the Nashville State Community College Foundation and is a longtime advocate of the college. Hatch, an alumnus of Nashville State, was nominated for the award by the college.

Board members will also receive several informational reports, including the chancellor’s quarterly report, an update on legislation affecting the College System, an overview of Governor Bill Haslam’s higher education budget proposals, an update on activities of the system’s new Office of Economic and Community Development and Office of External Affairs, and public notice of a proposed change in the Board’s bylaws that will be considered at the next quarterly meeting in June. The proposed change would ensure compliance with the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges’ requirement for governing boards to define and regularly evaluate their responsibilities and expectations.

Incidental fees are charges incurred by students for specific classes, labs, licensure exams and services, and are not levied across the board on all students. (Fees charged to all students are called mandatory fees, which will be considered at the Board’s June meeting, along with tuition for the 2018-19 academic year.) Over the course of three meetings in February and March, the Board’s Finance and Business Operations Committee reviewed requests from the system’s colleges for changes in various incidental fees, and at its March 13 meeting, recommended changes in 32 separate incidental fees at six of the community colleges.

The recommendations, which must be approved by the Board of Regents before they are implemented, would establish five new incidental fees at three colleges, increase 12 existing fees at three colleges, expand an existing course fee to additional courses at one college and eliminate 14 existing fees at five colleges.

The Board’s consideration of criteria for the next president of Northeast State Community College is the first step in the selection of a new president there. Dr. Janice Gilliam retired as the college’s president last summer and James King is serving as interim president.

The Board meeting is open to the public as observers. Anyone planning to attend may contact TBR Communications Director Rick Locker at rick.locker@tbr.edu or 615-366-4417 by 4 p.m. March 28 to facilitate security access. The meeting will also be live streamed and archived on the TBR website at https://www.tbr.edu/board/board-meeting-schedule-and-materials.